BATON ROUGE - A federal judge released former Alcohol and Tobacco Control commissioner Murphy Painter on his own recognizance after a hearing over several indictments this morning.

On May 23, a federal grand jury handed up an indictment against Painter for charges of computer fraud, making false statements and aggravated identity theft.

As part of the conditions for his release, Painter had to give us his passport and agree to remove a gun collection from his home.

Painter is scheduled to be back in court for an arraignment hearing next week.

The indictments came after a six-month investigation from the Inspector General's Office into allegations Painter stalked former ATC employees and misused his position to run unauthorized background checks on people throughout the area.